Saw this; thought this:
IF IT’S NOT A PRIORITY before it becomes a priority, it’ll end up a mess:
Several experts also believe the decision to make FEMA a part of the Department of Homeland Security, created after the September 11, 2001 attacks, was a major mistake. Rubin said FEMA functioned well in the 1990s as a small, independent agency.
"Under DHS, it was downgraded, buried in a couple of layers of bureaucracy, and terrorism prevention got all the attention and most of the funds," she said.
Former FEMA director James Lee Witt testified to Congress in March 2004: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded.
"I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared. In fact one state emergency manager told me, 'It is like a stake has been driven into the heart of emergency management,"' he said.
Underlying the situation has been the general reluctance of government at any level to invest in infrastructure or emergency management, said David McEntire, who teaches emergency management at the University of North Texas.
"No-one cares about disasters until they happen. That is a political fact of life," he said.
Dave Ramsey says the same thing concerning money: “This is an emergency! The house is on fire! You have to save. You have to invest in your future. You won’t be FINE! Do you get the picture?” (Total Money Makeover, p54)
And of course, the ultimate priorities…
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